


The Dream Citadel

by FireEye



Category: Ultima
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 13:56:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7535440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireEye/pseuds/FireEye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Big Red isn't one to knock when he wants something.  He's rude like that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dream Citadel

The Dark Citadel haunted her dreams.

It was not an altogether unfamiliar vision. She had haunted these walls for a lifetime, mere lifetimes ago, and the vast obsidian halls echoed with her footsteps. Lost beyond memory, hidden within eternity, and the Avatar walked the dream alone.

A lone spark within its vast, all-encompassing night.

The velvet night was empty of stars. The courtyard fountain, reflecting nothing but darkness. Its sweet, cool water turned to ash upon her tongue. The orchard and gardens had withered away.

A sense of dread settled deep in her heart as her thoughts took her from the cellars to the tower. Shadow touched her as she passed – clinging in tufts to her hair, pulling at her nightclothes, and weighing her steps. Until at last, her wandering brought her to the Throne of the High King.

Empty, so it should have been. Empty, it was not.

In the darkness of this place, his aura was a murky glow, that of darkened magma. His eyes were dim, barely open as he regarded her in silence.

“Pleasant dreams, Avatar?”

Alexis found her hand above her shoulder, in reach of a sword that was not there. Not in this place. She forced her hand to her side, smoothing the gossamer nightgown over her skin.

A mere dream, and nothing more.

“You don’t belong here.”

The mocking laughter that plagued her waking hours resounded in the bastion of night surrounding them.

“Truly not, dear friend?”

“Fuck off and die, asshole. Take your bullshit with you.”

“Such harsh words for an _Avatar of Virtue_ ,” the Guardian admonished. “Hardly my concern, for it is not with thee that I desire words.”

Ice itched up her spine.

Behind her.

In the shadow of the archway.

The haze of his wings obscured his form, but smouldering blue eyes glinted in the dark, and his name was upon her lips.

“Thy master is dead, Arcadion. Why dost thou serve _this_...” The Guardian summed up Alexis in an listless wave of his hand.

“I serve the master of my prison, as thou hast _undoubtedly_ perceived.”

“Dost thou fear thy freedom, to find servitude is so sweet?”

“To what alternative? Wouldst thou bargain that I trade one master for another? The _mortal_ Avatar, for thou, O _magnanimous_ Destroyer of Worlds.”

“Lest the Avatar forget herself.” The Guardian regarded the mere mortal between them. “Wouldst thou dream to tinder the phoenix’s pyre, I wonder.”

“Hardly.”

Between them, Alexis twisted and turned. At once, the muffled, oppressive silence seemed louder than their words.

“So be it,” the Guardian rumbled. “Keep thou thy loyalty, _daemon_.”

The Throne of the High King was empty.

As it had been for lifetimes beyond memory.

The daemon remained.

Stepping toward the archway, Alexis regarded him warily. She couldn’t see his face beneath the smoky wisps of shadow, but for the sneer in his voice as his eyes narrowed.

“ _Master?_ ”

Awake, she opened her eyes. In her bedroll, beside the hearth. Light poured through the window... a moonlit night, full of bright stars.

Alone.

... _not_ alone.

Her hand found the crosspiece of the sword where it rested beside her. From there, the hilt. Alexis closed her eyes, breathing deep.

The gem shimmered under her fingers.

“Pleasant dreams, Master?”

 _Never alone_.

Not even, it seemed, in the world of dreams.

**Author's Note:**

> -More exploratory "how deep does the connection go".  
> -Mostly because last week I had the inexplicable mental image of Arcadion lurking around in shadowy dream doorways.  
> -Also as of last week, I've been writing for 15 years.  
> -Anniversary Fic Celebration. \o/


End file.
